Iowa, State, Midwestern U.S. Area: 56,273 sq mi (145,745 sq km). Population: (2020) 3,190,369; (2023 est.) 3,207,004. Capital: Des Moines. It is bordered by Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The Des Moines River flows across the state from northwest to southeast. The Mississippi River forms its eastern boundary, while the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River define portions of its western boundary. The Sauk, Fox, Iowa, and Sioux peoples lived in what is now the state of Iowa when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette arrived in 1673. The U.S. acquired Iowa as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Following the Black Hawk War and purchase of eastern Iowa from the Sauk and Fox in the 1830s, settlement by Euro-Americans advanced rapidly. Iowa became a territory in 1838 and was made the 29th state in 1846. After the American Civil War, railroad expansion attracted large groups of immigrants from the eastern states and from Europe. After World War I population growth slowed. Iowa is one of the most agriculturally productive states and leads the U.S. in the production of corn (maize) and soybeans, as well as in the raising of hogs. After the farm crisis of the 1980s, it was forced to diversify its economy, and services became the dominant economic activity of the state.
